NA-F2000: PAC: Las Vegas season finale preview

Westphal Seeks to Clinch the TVP Pacific F2000 Title in Las Vegas
Buttonwillow, Calif. (October 13, 2008) -- Jeff Westphal needs only
to muster seven points from the final two races of the season at Las
Vegas Motor Speedway to clinch the...

Westphal Seeks to Clinch the TVP Pacific F2000 Title in Las Vegas

Buttonwillow, Calif. (October 13, 2008) -- Jeff Westphal needs only
to muster seven points from the final two races of the season at Las
Vegas Motor Speedway to clinch the Terminal Velocity Pacific F2000
Championship Presented by Hankook Tire.

The 22-year-old racer from San Carlos, Calif., endured a disappointing
start to his campaign when an electrical gremlin forced him to begin the
very first race almost a full lap in arrears. Since then he has been on a
tear, winning eight out of nine races in the #39 Cacci Construction/TNT
Demolition/PR1 Motorsports Van Diemen. Westphal is poised to break 2007
champion Patrick Barrett's record of eight wins in a single Pacific
F2000 season.

"I am definitely not on cruise control," declares Westphal. "I know that
Robert wants to win just as much as I do. I have been preparing for this
event for quite some time, so my plan is to put my head down and run
session to session like we have been all year -- giving it 110
percent. That's all we can do."

Podlesni, meanwhile, is focused simply on winning races.

"I want to finish my season with some wins," says Podlesni, 20, from
Thousand Oaks, Calif. "The last weekend of the year is always a good time
with some great racing and of course the series banquet. Whatever happens
this weekend, I've had a tremendous time."

Aside from the overall championship, several other scores will be settled
during this weekend's two 30-minute races which will be held in
conjunction with VARA's Jeff Saltman Memorial Race Sponsored by
Bounty Hunter at the 1.8-mile Las Vegas Motor Speedway road course.

For example, both PR1 Motorsports teammates Nick Freytag (#9 G
Phactory/Sodi Kart Van Diemen), from Paradise Valley, Ariz. -- the
youngest series regular at age 17 -- and 21-year-old Shaun Modisette
(#26 Carson Trailer Van Diemen), from Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif., remain
in contention for second place in the championship.

Both the Masters (for drivers aged over 51) and Expert titles (between
ages 35 and 50) also remain unsettled.

In the Masters category, defending champion Chuck Hulse, from Yorba
Linda, Calif., holds an 18-point margin over Peter Hastrup, from Fresno,
Calif., who has been racing in F2000 since its inception as a
professional category in the United States in 1991.

"It's going to be a busy weekend but I'm really looking
forward to it," says Hulse, who in addition to seeking his ninth Masters
win with the #21 Silicon Salvage/DFR Van Diemen, will be racing in the
Star Mazda Championship season finale at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca on
Saturday.

Hulse, incidentally, finished third and fourth overall in the two most
recent F2000 races in Utah.

"It will take a miracle to catch Chuck but I am looking forward to a
strong showing in Las Vegas after a good test at Buttonwillow a few weeks
back," says Hastrup, who has finished every race this season among the
top nine with the #5 Western Building Materials/Dave Freitas Racing Van
Diemen.

Ira Fierberg, from Manhattan Beach, Calif., holds a healthy advantage in
his quest for a second successive Experts title, but he still has another
goal in sight.

"I am pleased that we head to the last race without concern for
championship points," says Fierberg, who drives the #27 Personal Injury
Law/Sparco USA/DFR Van Diemen. "I hope to break (into) the top-five which
remains our remaining unfulfilled goal from the year."